DESCRIPTION(Provided by Applicant): [unreadable] The goals of this training program in autoimmunity and connective tissue biology are unchanged. We plan to recruit talented and highly motivated graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and provide these individuals with a first class training program that will prepare them for competitive and independent careers in academic research. Research interests of the program encompass faculty in 6 departments (Biochemistry, Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Pharmacology/Toxicology, Pathology, Physiology) and 3 graduate programs (Molecular and Cellular Biology, Pharmacology/Toxicology, and Physiology). Together, this training program spans a wide range of interests fundamental to basic understanding of autoimmunity and the biology of connective tissue disease: self-tolerance and antigen presentation, regulation of gene expression, organelle trafficking, membrane signal transduction and secretion, rheumatic disease models, structure-function relationship of cytokines and their receptors and vascular biology. Thus, a considerable breadth of experimental and conceptual choices exist for potential trainees that enhance our ability to attract and train M.D.'s interested in careers in academic medicine. The strength of the Training Program continues to be its outstanding faculty, consisting of 15 well-funded faculty with vigorous on-going research programs utilizing an array of state-of-the art molecular and cellular techniques. The training program continues to benefit from the excellent facilities and the continued growth of the already strong graduate programs that lead to the Ph.D. degree in either Molecular and Cellular Biology, Physiology, and Pharmacology/Toxicology. Since 1998, there has been continued growth in these graduate programs, as well as the M.D./Ph.D. program, providing very high quality trainees. The training program in autoimmunity and connective tissue biology is interdisciplinary and highly interactive with exposure to diverse areas of faculty expertise in the basic and clinical sciences in a number of formats which include formal course work, intimate seminars, individual tutorials and several weekly seminar series and journal clubs. These forums facilitate the high level of faculty-student interaction that is traditional at Dartmouth and results in the recognition of our research efforts at both the national and international level. [unreadable] [unreadable]